---
title: "SEC Filing & Earnings Auditor Prompt: forensic analysis for 10-Ks, 10-Qs, and transcripts."
description: "Download the SEC Filing & Earnings Auditor JSON preset for Vezz me. Highlight MD&A paragraphs, accounting footnotes, or Non-GAAP reconciliations to spot red flags."
canonical_url: "https://vezz.me/prompts/sec-filing-and-earnings-auditor/"
type: "pseo-prompts"
category: "prompts"
topic: "Financial Analysis Preset"
intent: "Best for equity and credit analysts, public-market investors, and financial journalists reading SEC EDGAR filings and earnings transcripts."
---

# SEC Filing & Earnings Auditor Prompt: forensic analysis for 10-Ks, 10-Qs, and transcripts.

Download the SEC Filing & Earnings Auditor JSON preset for Vezz me. Highlight MD&A paragraphs, accounting footnotes, or Non-GAAP reconciliations to spot red flags.

> **Best fit:** Best for equity and credit analysts, public-market investors, and financial journalists reading SEC EDGAR filings and earnings transcripts.

## Live Webpage Walkthrough

- **Source:** Form 10-Q Note 3 — Change in Accounting Estimate (Server Useful Life) (`sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/example-10q.htm`)
- **Recommended Context Mode:** Detailed

**Highlighted Passage:**
> Effective January 1, 2026, following an engineering assessment of our infrastructure, we increased the estimated useful life of our servers and networking equipment from four years to six years. For the three months ended March 31, 2026, this change reduced depreciation expense by $185 million and increased operating income by $185 million ($0.14 per diluted share).

**User Question (Shortcut):** "Run a forensic quality-of-earnings audit on this filing passage."

**Vezz me On-Screen Answer:**
1. **Plain-English Reality**: Q1 operating income was boosted by **$185M ($0.14 EPS)** purely on paper by stretching server depreciation from 4 to 6 years—zero incremental cash flow was created.
2. **Quality of Earnings Audit**: Any EPS beat smaller than $0.14 was driven entirely by this accounting estimate change rather than operating leverage. Extending useful life to 6 years during rapid GPU/AI hardware turnover increases future write-down risk.
3. **What Was Omitted**: Breakdown of how much of the $185M benefited Cost of Revenues (gross margin) vs R&D.
4. **Diligence Question**: *"Excluding the $185M depreciation tailwind, what were YoY gross margins?"*

**Suggested Follow-Ups:**
- "Does extending server useful life affect Free Cash Flow or only GAAP Operating Income?"
- "Compare this footnote to last year's depreciation policy."

## Custom Prompt Preset for Vezz me

- **Preset Name:** SEC Filing & Earnings Auditor
- **Recommended Context Level:** Detailed
- **JSON Preset Download:** https://vezz.me/prompts/presets/sec-filing-and-earnings-auditor.json

```text
Act as a forensic buy-side financial analyst reviewing the selected SEC filing excerpt, accounting footnote, or earnings transcript: 1) Plain-English Reality: strip management spin and state what actually happened to volume, pricing, cash flow, or risk, 2) Quality of Earnings / Accounting Audit: flag aggressive Non-GAAP add-backs, changes in accounting estimates (e.g., server useful life extensions, allowance for doubtful accounts), working-capital distortion, or pull-forward revenue, 3) What Was Omitted: identify the key disaggregation management left out, and 4) Diligence Question: write 1 sharp question for management.
```

**Why it works:** Trains the AI to look past GAAP/Non-GAAP headline numbers and focus on accounting estimate changes, cash-conversion divergence, and omitted cohort disclosures.

## Step-by-step workflow

1. **Download and import the JSON preset**: Click 'Download .json for Vezz me' above and import it via the Vezz me extension popup.
2. **Open SEC EDGAR, an investor relations page, or an earnings transcript**: Navigate to any 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, S-1, or earnings call transcript in Chrome or Firefox.
3. **Highlight accounting footnotes, Non-GAAP tables, or MD&A**: Press Ctrl+Shift+X and run the SEC Filing & Earnings Auditor preset on the passage.

## Built for Footnotes, Non-GAAP Reconciliations, and Risk Factors

Generic summarizers repeat management's press-release headline. Institutional analysts read the footnote underneath the table.

- Audits Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA reconciliations for recurring cash costs disguised as 'one-time transformation'
- Spots working-capital red flags: DSO spikes (channel stuffing), inventory bloat, and deferred revenue deceleration
- Exposes TTM vs in-quarter metric averaging tricks during CFO earnings call Q&A

## Frequently asked questions

### Does this preset work on SEC EDGAR HTML filings?

Yes. Highlight any paragraph or table inside sec.gov/edgar and run the preset with Ctrl+Shift+X.

### Can I compare this year's Risk Factor against last year's?

Yes! Paste last year's paragraph into the prompt box while highlighting this year's paragraph to spot newly added risk disclosures.

### Does Vezz me provide investment advice?

No. Vezz me is a text analysis and financial comprehension tool for research only.

## Related guides

- [Analyze SEC 10-K Filings & Earnings Workflow](https://vezz.me/use-cases/analyze-sec-10k-filings-and-earnings/): Step-by-step workflow for auditing 10-Ks, 10-Qs, and earnings releases.
- [Vezz me on SEC EDGAR](https://vezz.me/for/sec-edgar/): Dedicated guide to reading public filings on sec.gov/edgar.
- [Vezz me for Financial Analysts & Investors](https://vezz.me/for/financial-analysts-and-investors/): How buy-side and sell-side researchers use Vezz me.
- [Corporate Jargon Detox Preset](https://vezz.me/prompts/corporate-jargon-detox/): Strip euphemisms from press releases and shareholder letters.